Back again! Yeah, March hasn't gone as planned, but at least I'm able to show something for the month. While this isn't one of my favorite chapters I've ever written, it serves its purpose. Enjoy!
Chapter 4: Lost and Found…Again
Greg looked out over the group of forty-or-so people that were sitting out before him. "Well, it's a minute past 3:30, so let's get down to business. First of all, I apologize for the breach in protocol, but Kyle is busy handling administration-only business that we are discussing after the meeting today." Second, we have a potential new member today sitting in on us today. You guys remember Ms. Fitzgerald's daughter, Teresa, right?" A small group of applause filled the room, as Teresa took Greg aside.
"I'm not even considering joining this yet!" she protested.
"You need a cover," he explained. "It's not every day that a visitor to our little place gets to sit by me." As the applause died down, a hand was raised in the crowd. "Protest, Amanda?"
"Why does a newbie, like, get the preferential treatment now? Is she, like, your girlfriend?" A few catcalls echoed over the walls. Greg blushed uncomfortably.
"Come on, guys!" Gina groaned, bringing everyone back to order. "Greg already has someone else he likes, and he has no need to tell you guys!"
"T-Thanks, Gina," he sighed. Gina flashed a peace sign. "Alright, first order of business today is the minutes of the last meeting. Tiff?" Tiffany had a few papers prepared in front of her.
"Let's see…Meeting started promptly at…" Teresa strangely began to grow tired at that point. It wasn't noticeable to the crowd or anyone at the table, but she found it hard to stay awake, as if something wanted her not to notice the meeting. Whatever it was, it worked. She didn't fall completely asleep, but her mind grew numb, and she couldn't focus on what was going on. The next thing she remembered…
"…Oy, Teresa?" Tiffany waved her hand in front of Teresa's face, trying to get her attention. "Are you awake?" The blond instantly snapped up, alert as ever.
"Huh? Did I fall asleep?"
"You kinda didn't without actually falling asleep," Peter explained.
"The meeting's already over," Gina told her. Teresa looked around. The members of the club were either collecting their things, or were resuming or starting another round of battles and trades.
"Where's Greg?" she wondered.
"He had to get that 'secret package' he told us about earlier," Tom stated. "It wasn't enough that we received a testbed for the new Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 games, but now we have a surprise on our hands."
"Maybe you should splash some water on your faces," Kate suggested. "He said that you were a part of this secret meeting that you guys were a part of, so you've gotta look your best to be awake."
"I was actually considering that," Teresa nodded. "Now, I'm actually going to do it."
"The bathroom's upstairs and around the corner," Christian directed. "Just make sure that Kyle's little brother isn't there."
"Thanks," Teresa replied. She headed upstairs, and rounded a corner. She spotted Greg by the closet, getting her handbag (and Pikachu) out into the bright day. The bathroom was just where Christian had described it. It was modest, comprising of plain white marble and silver faucets. She turned on the cold water, and splashed her face. The icy temperatures instantly woke her senses to the highest alert.
However, the pink shape that floated by the bathroom window was ignored by her.
Meanwhile, contrary to what Teresa had thought, Greg hadn't gotten Pikachu out to everyone already. In fact, he hadn't seen the Electric Mouse Pokemon at all. The senior had looked in the hamper, the pocketbook, and the shelving, but there was no sign of him anywhere.
He turned to his best friend and club bouncer. "Are you absolutely certain that nobody was let into this room? He's not anywhere to be found?" Kyle nodded.
"I didn't let any unauthorized permission to any…" He suddenly remembered something, and facepalmed. " Dammit!"
"What is it?"
"My grandmother had to get in there to get some laundry ten minutes ago," Kyle explained. "I can't block her from entering!"
"I didn't expect or want you to, but now we got a problem. Check the washing and drying machines for him."
"On it!" He hurried off to the laundry room, just as Teresa returned from the bathroom.
"Where's your friend going?" she asked.
"Pikachu decided to run off on us. Again."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah. I swear that he has a mischievous side not seen in the anime."
"Who has a mischievous side?" Tom asked. He and the other heads had come up the stairs.
"Negi. Have you seen how many times he super-sneezes when there's a group of girls with him?"
"Uhhh…yes?" he didn't know how to respond to the question. Kyle returned from the laundry room.
"No sign of the Pik-ah, Toto," he announced .
"The what?" Gina questioned.
"The thing I wanted to show you guys," Greg explained. "But we accidentally left it back in Teresa's house, so we can't show you now. I'm going to get Teresa home. You guys wait here until the kick-out time, and then head home. I'll show you guys what I wanted to present after Friday's meeting." He got his coat. "Let's go, Teresa."
"Right. We don't have much time to lose." They headed out a side entrance, off to Greg's car.
"That's completely strange," Gina thought aloud. "Usually, Greg's always the first and last person here. Yet here he is, cutting and running in order to get Teresa home. Maybe I was wrong to defend him earlier."
"No way!" Tiffany objected. "He may be a gentlemen, but he does have issues when asking out people. Besides, he already has his eyes and heart on Alex, not that his mouth is in accord."
"Kyle, you were confided on this package," Christian noted. "Anything you can tell us?"
"Not really," Kyle admitted. "Greg wants me to keep everything tight-lipped involving Codename: Toto."
"So it's something that's lost," Gina presumed. "Otherwise, you two wouldn't be using the Wizard of Oz to talk about it."
"But what?" Tom wondered.
"Find out next Friday." Kyle told them. "Or just wait until we reach that particular chapter…"
"For what?"
"Er, nothing…" As the back and forth between Kyle and the four officers continued, Peter and Kate came up the basement stairs. Peter had a black and white marching band warm-up jacket on, while Kate wore a powder blue jacket with a white stripe.
"Wonder what they're talking about," Kate wondered. Peter shrugged, and they headed out of the house. Instead of the side entrance, however, they went out the main door in the front. When they reached the door, they found it slightly ajar. In the snow bank that was just outside, a fresh set of tracks led away from the door, towards the street. Greg's car passed, heading straight through a small intersection.
"It looks like Kyle's cat went out for a walk," Peter noted.
"Maybe – maybe we should tell him," Kate suggested. Peter shook his head.
"They're cats, Kate. They go in and out all the time." He paused. "Although…"
"Although what?"
"Don't you find it strange that Greg and Teresa conveniently have to leave after they talked with Kyle? Maybe he told them to look for his cat."
"Could be. But – but look! They're heading away from the tracks." Indeed, while Greg had driven straight through the intersection, the tracks crossed the street, and made a left at the intersection, heading down a steep grade towards the lake.
"You're right. It's also not the best of conditions to be out in. The forecast said that there's more snow coming tonight."
"Let's head down and see if we can find her!" Peter disagreed with Kate.
"No. My parents are coming to pick us up in five minutes."
"Aw, c'mon, Peter! We'll be back in time!"
"No!" Kate clasped her hands together, and did her best impression of a puppy face.
"Please? For me?"
"Well…" Peter had a hard time resisting. "…fine."
"Yay! Let's go already!" Kate grabbed her friend's hand, and dragged him along.
"Wait, Kate! You're going to –!" Peter lost his balance, and promptly fell into a pile of snow.
"We've checked the entirety of the north side of the lake," Greg recapped, as he made a left turn. "We've found nothing leading us to Pikachu anywhere. You'd think that something that's yellow would really stand out in the snow."
"Granted he's also a little thing," Teresa reminded him. "We could have passed him countless times now!" They approached a very familiar parking lot.
"We're overthinking this. Let's head back and…is that Bridget?" Outside was Bridget's store. It was a quaint one-story house that had been converted into a convenience store. Bridget, in a brown fur coat, was looking at the roof, her hand to her face, as if she was pondering something. "Wonder what's up…" He pulled into the snowed-in parking lot. The big Forester made deep, crunching tracks as it punched through the drifts. Bridget turned around as the car pulled up by her. Greg rolled down the driver's window.
"Good afternoon, Greg." She noticed Teresa in passenger's seat. "Teresa? What are you doing with Greg? Don't tell me you two are on a date, hmm?" The two immediately blushed in panic.
"B-Bridget?-!" Teresa stammered. "A-Absolutely not!"
"Besides, you know that I like Alex," Greg explained, with much more composure. "Though I'm still working on how to admit it to her…" Bridget giggled.
'"I'm only joking, you two!" She turned her attention back to the roof. "Besides, I have other things to worry about."
"What's the matter?" Teresa asked.
"Well, a few minutes before you arrived, a group of teens threw something onto the roof. I don't think it's anything serious, since it made a metal clattering sound when it hit the roof, but it got stuck in the gutter as it was coming down. I would get my ladder, but it's buried under a few feet of snow currently." Greg frowned. He spotted the metal tin in the gutter, about ten feet off the ground.
"Teens, huh…I'll be happy to get that down for you. Teresa, can you get out for a second?"
"Huh? Uh…sure." Teresa stepped out of the car, and walked through the cold white snow towards her stepmother. Greg moved his car parallel to the roof, directly under the gutter. He then got out, walked around to the passenger side, and climbed up onto the roof of the car. He was then able to easily retrieve the metal box.
"Amazing, Greg!" Bridget applauded. Greg was beginning his descent down, when he paused, and looked towards the south end of the lake. As he did so, his foot slipped out from under him, and he fell straight back into a pile of snow. The metal box flung out of his hand, and landed only a few feet away from the two girls.
"Greg!" Teresa gasped. The two ran over to the senior, who slowly got up.
"I'm fine. I fell into a snowbank. What of the box?" They walked over to the metal box, which landed in a patch of dirty snow. Picking it up, Greg opened the box. Inside was a single sheet of computer paper.
"It's a letter," he said. It read:
Stop supporting the Pokemon Wayne Network
In one week; otherwise, we will take
Serious action against this supporter of
The club in wrongful violations of the
Established rules of Pokemon Battles
Brendan Roberts, Don Giovanni Guild
"More like a death threat to me," Bridget reasoned. "It's that no-good Roberts kid again! Let me tell you how much he's harassed this business in the last three weeks!"
"We'd love to," Greg insisted, "but we're actually going over to Kasey's house to watch a movie. We're seeing the Wizard of Oz."
"Oz?" Bridget was confused. "I don't understand what kids like you will see in that movie, but I'm not one to get picky. You two have a good time. Just bring Teresa home before I get there."
"Will do, Bridget," Teresa assured her. She kissed her foster mother on the cheek. "Love you."
"As do I." Greg and Teresa got back into the car, and drove back onto the main road. Teresa noted that Greg was driving faster than before.
"We need to get to the dam as soon as possible," he stated. "The reason I slipped was because I thought I saw a patch of yellow near the dam. And there's only one creature we know of that has yellow fur."
The dam that Greg was talking about was a low dam constructed to create Packanack Lake. It was of earthen construct, lined with stones on either slope. Part of the dam lowered on the east side, allowing water to spill over should the water level rise too high. A roadway ran alongside the dam's base, its sidewalk taking the high road and running on the top of the dam.
Around the time that Greg and Teresa got back on the road, Kate and Peter were walking on the top of the dam. The tracks had led them down the hill, to the south end of the lake, and over to the dam.
"Brrr…" Peter was still numb from his encounter with a snow pile. "Can we just go back now?"
"No!" Kate protested. "We already came this far. Turning back is not in the equation."
"Women…" The tracks wandered back and forth off the path, until it ended in a snow pile. It appeared that whatever left the tracks had stumbled into the drift by accident, and was now stuck.
"Should you pull it out, or should you?" Peter grumbled.
"Just because I have gloves and you don't doesn't mean that you can throw me into snow all day!"
"Nyeh!" Kate stuck out her tongue. "Just do it!"
"Fine, fine…" Peter relented. He placed his hand in the snow, but almost immediately retracted it. "Ow!"
"What's up?"
"Some sort of static electricity, I think…" He looked into the hole. "Um, Kate? You know more about animals than I do, so remind me what animals have yellow fur."
"Yellow? None that live around –" She stopped when Peter pulled out a yellow mouse, with a familiar yellow lightning tail. The two blankly stared at the rodent, and it looked back at them. An orange car pulled into the parking lot of a tennis court across from the dam.
"Pi…Pika-chu?"
"Are you seeing what I'm seeing, Kate?"
"If you're seeing a Pikachu right in your hands, then yes, I am seeing what you are seeing."
"Kachu?"
"Kawaii!" Kate giggled. "It's so cute!" A thwomp was heard behind them on the dam.
"Baka snowbank…" Greg muttered, as he got up and climbed to the top of the dam, with Teresa following shortly behind. Greg was dusting the snow off of his jacket when he saw Kate, Peter, and looked at Pikachu, who was still in Peter's hand, and facepalmed. "And it just got worse…"
Pikachu jumped out of Peter's grasp, and wandered over to Teresa. "Pika-Kapika! Chu-pikachu-pikachu!" Teresa was surprised and upset.
"Pikachu! Didn't you learn from earlier that you can't run off?" She bopped the Electric Mouse Pokemon on the head.
"Pi! Pika-chu, chu-chu-pika-ka!"
"Whatever that means…" Kate put a few facts together.
"So – so this meeting…it was to show Pikachu!"
"You guys can't tell anyone," Teresa told the two. "We can't have the wrong people knowing about him, despite his best intentions…"
"Ka…"
"But this – this is so much awesomeness!" Peter exclaimed. "A Pikachu here in New Jersey! Every Pokefan should be able to know about this!"
"Tell, and I'll tell everyone about the secret relationship between you two." Everyone jerked their heads over towards Greg. "Simple as that."
"Ka-Kate and I – we aren't in a relationship!" Peter protested.
"It's too obvious," Greg disagreed. "You two always hang out in the lobby, right next to each other. You two always share the bus seat when we go away for marching band events. And Sam heard you refer to Kate as your girlfriend at least twice."
"We-we're not covering up any-!"
"Kate, even I can see it," Teresa admitted. "You don't even need to tell me, and I know." The two sophomores looked at each other.
"Guess we can't fool anyone, huh?" Peter sighed. Kate nodded.
"Seems so," his girlfriend said. She turned to her two friends. "I'm guessing that you two want Pikachu back, huh?"
"It would be helpful," Greg stated. "It's not the best idea to have him out in the open like this. You guys need a ride back? I know that your mom was supposed to pick you two up at Kyle's."
"No thanks. I told my mom to meet us by the firehouse. We'll be seeing you. Bye Pikachu!"
"Pika-Pika!" Pikachu waived to the two sophomores, who turned around and walked further down the dam.
"Let's get going as well," Greg said to Teresa. "We've got to get Pikachu out and away from the open."
"Right," she nodded. "I never saw that side from you before."
"What side?"
"You blackmailed Peter and Teresa into keeping silent about Pikachu. You're usually the person who stops such tactics from happening."
"And I still am. But between that or having constant cameras in our faces, which would you rather choose?"
"You, my fine yellow-furred friend, are one mischievous little troublemaker." It was late at night, right before Teresa was to go to sleep. She was wearing blue cotton pajama bottoms with a white T-shirt. She laid on the bed, causing the area where Pikachu was standing on to bend inward towards the girl.
"Kachu-?-!" The Electric Mouse Pokemon stumbled into Teresa's belly. The blonde giggled.
"You at least know how to make me forget about all of what happened," she told him. "Good night. Make sure to hop into the drawer." With that, she went fast asleep.
Pikachu couldn't understand girls. Not from when he first started traveling, to the last moments of being in the Pokemon World, to now. He shrugged, and scattered to the drawers where he now made his temporary residence. Soon, he too joined Teresa in the world of dreams.
"Pi…Pi…Pi…"
For Your Information…
Cut out of the chapter was the meeting scene. It was originally supposed to be the full meeting, with Pikachu going missing in the next chapter. However, I got stuck with possible ideas for the meeting.
Also cut out: The special item was originally going to be a game disk system similar to the ones in Yu-Gi-Oh!, but during production, it was deemed that it would only drag the plot down if that element was added.
Fourth wall isn't very strong today, is it?
So now two more people know about No. 025. And there's an entirely different problem looming on the horizon. So what will be of our friends? Easy. Just R&R, and stay tuned for the next chapter! Ja ne!
KKid